A New Beginning \\\ Iris Miller

Chapter 2

Jackson is shown above ^^^

Word Count: 1055

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Iris took the two pieces of paper downstairs to show her family. "Mom! Dad! You have a lot of explaining to do!" Iris shouted as she ran down the stairs. 

"What do we have to explain?" Her dad, Brantley asked, and took a sip of his morning coffee.

"What is this?" She asked, putting her papers onto the breakfast counter. 

"Looks like you met Kevin," Her dad stated. "I always hated him, too sarcastic. Even as a toddler."

Iris' mom, Coral, finished washing a pan and looked up at her daughter and husband. "Kevin may be sarcastic but he can be helpful."

"Can be," Brantly mumbled into his coffee mug.

"What would you like to know?" Coral asked her daughter.

Iris thought for a moment before responding. "How about what do the schools mean? Who is Kevin? And why has everyone been avoiding my questions until now?" Iris exclaimed.

"There are four schools in town, one each representing a family that founded the town. They each have their character traits. Kevin is apart of the fifth family that keeps the schools and town in order because they show most of the character traits of all the schools. And everyone has been avoiding your questions because there is a rule where a person must go through the school selection process until their questions are answered," Coral explained to her.

Brantley picked put Iris' schedule and quickly looked over it. "She got into Rainrun," he said, looking up from the page and at Coral.

"That' wonderful! Even though you won't be going to school with your brother, I'm sure its a better fit for you than Brightburn," Coral took the paper from Brantley's hand and started looking over all of Iris' classes.

"Mom, why did you even move away from Herington in the first place?" Iris asked, interrupting her mother's reading.

Coral sighed and looked up from her reading. "Your father and I decided to move away from Herington because everyone here has a life already planned out for them. Made and designed specifically for them. Your school, your job, your home, sometimes even your friends. Your father and I graduated from high school here and went to college in different parts of the country. After returning home, everything was different. Life became more of a set plan after buying a house and finding a job. Then we had your brother and decided we didn't want a preplanned life for him. So we moved to Utah with the hope of escaping it," Coral explained, putting down Iris' schedule.

"We obviously did not escape anything, since we moved back," Brantly chuckled and took another sip of his coffee.

"So you moved across the country to escape life?" Iris questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, we did. But we moved back because of family, and seeing that fate can follow you everywhere, "Coral said with a sigh.

Iris shook her head. "That's not true."

"The test everyone here takes to find their job said I would be a construction manager when I took it, What am I now?" Brantly asked, looking at his daughter.

"An architect," Iris said quickly, almost dismissing it. "Oh." she realized.

"Those tests have a funny way of finding the right field but not the right job," Brantley commented. "Even though I didn't become a construction manager, I'm in the same work field as them."

"Now I see where you are coming from," Iris agreed, nodding. "What did you make for lunch?" Iris asked.

"Fruit salad and we all made our sandwiches. Jackson made a plate for you, it's on the top shelf of the fridge," Coral replied, putting away a plate in a cabinet.

"Okay, thank you," Iris said and opened the fridge. She grabbed the plate on the top shelf. It had a small portion of fruit salad and a ham, cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise sandwich on it. Iris grabbed a fork from the silverware drawer and went to sit in the living room. 

"Iris Leona Miller, I know you aren't going to eat in the living room," Her father said loudly. Iris' parents have a 'no eating in the living room' rule because of crumbs getting everywhere and Jackson's accidental spill of grape jelly on a new white couch a few years ago.

Iris backed up and sat at the table. "Yup, definitely not going to eat in the living room." Iris ate her sandwich and salad. Then she washed her plate and fork and put it in the dishwasher. Iris returned upstairs, but with a different destination: her bother's room. Iris knocked on his door.

"Come in!" Jackson shouted from the other side. 

Iris opened the door and walked in. "Thanks for making me a sandwich." 

"No problem, what's up?" The chair turned so that Jackson could face Iris. 

"You've been avoiding me for the past week," She pointed out.

"I'm sorry Iris, that stupid rule says I can't tell you anything, and I knew if you asked me anything out of instinct I would answer you," Jackson explained.

"It's okay, I'm glad we can finally talk. Mom said something about you being in Brightburn," Iris smiled at her brother.

"Yup! The day we got here I was put into these trials, it was so cool," Jackson told Iris about his three trials. The first was a test of ten questions (which he did not talk much about because he deemed it boring), the next was to make his way through a giant maze in under 5 minutes, the last was to pick a word that each represented a school. "After I finished," Jackson started. "This guy popped out of nowhere, threw two pieces of paper at me while eating a sub, and I was suddenly back here."

"Yeah, I don't like Kevin very much," Iris commented.

"So that's his name," Jackson said.

"Yup, he's the most sarcastic person I have ever met," Iris rubbed her forehead, getting a headache when she remembered how annoying Kevin was when she met him.

"Noted," Jackson pointed at his sister and smiled. He turned back towards his desk. Iris smiled back and exited Jackson's room, closing the door behind her.

"Kids! We are going out to shop for school supplies! So get ready, we leave in 15 minutes," Coral shouted up the stairs.

"Okay, mom!" Iris replied and dashed into her room to get her purse.